Citigroup to buy Forum Financial NEW YORK – Citigroup Inc., the world’s biggest financial-service company by market value, agreed to buy Forum Financial Group, a Maine-based provider of fund-administration services, to add accounting and transfer services for mutual funds and hedge funds. Citigroup didn’t disclose terms of the deal. The purchase will allow the New York-based company tooffer accounting and other administrative services to its U.S. mutual fund clients for the first time. Citigroup has $5.5 trillion of assets under custody for fund clients around the world. The bankgains 400 employees in Bermuda; Portland, Maine; and Warsaw, Poland. The purchase also will give it record-keeping and accounting operations designed for hedge funds.
– Bloomberg
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Bogen cutting Nasdaq, SEC ties
RAMSEY – Bogen Communications International Inc. announced Monday that it will repurchase shares of its stock, terminate SEC registration, and delist from the Nasdaq market. The board of directors has authorized the company – which sells sound systems, telecommunications peripherals, and messaging products – to buy back up to 2 million shares at $5.00 per share. Bogen’s stock closed the day at $4.89, an increase of 84 cents. The buyback is expected to begin Monday. When the offer is complete, Bogen will terminate registration so it is no longer subject to the rules of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. The board voted to delist because it believes the advantages of registration are outweighed by the costs and administrative burdens.
– Allison Pries
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Mack-Cali sells Texas office tower
CRANFORD – Mack-Cali Realty Corp. said Monday that it has sold a 20-story office building in San Antonio, Texas, for $11 million. Partners Investors LLC bought the nearly 250,000-square-foot building, called Riverview Tower. “The sale of this property is consistent with our program of selling assets in non-core markets that do not fit our strategic profile,” said Mitchell E. Hersh, chief executive officer of Mack-Cali. “We will continue to redeploy proceeds from asset sales into opportunities that enhance our position in our core Northeast and Mid-Atlantic markets.” Mack-Cali still owns five properties in Texas. The largest concentration of the real estate investment trust’s 264 facilities is in New Jersey, where it owns about 129 properties.
– Allison Pries
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Rates on short-term T-bills mixed
WASHINGTON – Interest rates on short-term Treasury securities were mixed in Monday’s auction. The Treasury Department sold $17 billion in three-month bills at a discount rate of 0.940 percent, unchanged from last week. An additional $17 billion was sold in six- month bills at a rate of 1.03 percent, up from 1.02 percent the previous week. The six-month rate was the highest since Sept. 2, when the rate was 1.04 percent. The new discount rates understate the actual return to investors – 0.96 percent for three-month bills with a $10,000 bill selling for $9,976.20, and 1.05 percent for a six-month bill selling for $9,948.20. Meanwhile, the Fed said Monday that the average yield for one-year constant maturity T- bills, the most popular index for making changes in adjustable rate mortgages, was 1.30 percent last week, unchanged from the previous week.
– The Associated Press
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Conexant to acquire Globespan
RED BANK – Conexant Systems Inc. has agreed to acquire GlobespanVirata Inc., a maker of broadband communications products, for about $969.5 million in stock. The combined company will target the broadband digital market, including digital-subscriber line connectivity and wireless local-area networking. Conexant, of Newport Beach, Calif., sells products used in digital subscriber lines and cable modem solutions.
– Dow Jones/Associated Press
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Hartz buying Jersey City building
SECAUCUS – Hartz Mountain Industries Inc. has agreed to buy 15 Exchange Place in Jersey City for $24 million. The 130,000-square- foot Class A office building, which inspired Hartz’s 90 and 70 Hudson St. developments, was previously owned by NOL Properties, a division of Singapore-based Neptune Orient Lines. The purchase is an unusual move for 37-year-old Hartz, which has developed and built more than 90 percent of its 35-million-square foot portfolio. This new property brings Hartz’s Jersey City stock to 1 million square feet of office space.
– Allison Pries
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